Seven
Cree youth and two guides are walking from Whapmagoostui, on the
shores of Hudson Bay, to Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Their 1,100
kilometre journey, which started on January 16, 2013 in temperatures
below -40, is a call for peace and unity among First Nation Peoples,
and is a reflection of their burning desire to return to the
spiritual laws of their ancestors, to a way of life which centres
around
respect for Mother Earth and all its creatures. Let's show our
support by following them on Facebook and Twitter and wishing them
well!

13
year old Robyn Hamlyn is on a mission to educate Canada about the
basic human right to potable water without a huge price tag
attached. Her emphasis is on protecting freshwater resources.
She captivates people with her carefully researched
presentations, inspires with her passion for protecting the
environment, and provokes her detractors into snarly comments like,
'Don't bottle 13 year old Water Wisdom'. Hers is a formidable task
because there is more profit in promoting alternatives than
protecting our lakes and streams. You can help her! To find out how, visit:

Chelsea
Prescod has probably been a community activist all of her conscious
life. From a very early age, she didn't just dream of making a
difference one day. Her young innovative mind was constantly finding
ways to be the change she wanted to see. Today, she is the founder
and CEO of The Adva Effect - a digital media agency
with a strong focus on producing short films and
featurettes to highlight pressing social issues. Here is her story:

Caribbean
youth have stood up and decided to be the change they wish to see in
the world! The Caribbean Youth Environment Network (CYEN) has been
operating since the early 1990s, but more recently, a workshop, hosted
by the organization, has been inspiring youth advocates to take
their message to the world. For more on these enterprising youth,
see Caribbean Youth Call for Action on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZyd-zJ-uI8.
CYEN has members and affiliates in 15 Caribbean territories, and has
been spearheading projects as diverse as introducing International
Climate Change into school curricula, 'Turning trash into
treasure - promoting reuse', educating students about 'green'
careers, and organizing coastal clean ups, and eco-tours.
You too can find a voice through CYEN.
To find out how, visit:

Kimmie
Weeks has pledged to spend his life helping children who are caught
up in civil wars. He’s been doing it since he was 14. At age 9,
during the Liberian Civil War, he was nearly buried alive. At age
16, he lobbied for the disarmament of 20,000 child soldiers,
exposing his government’s role in training these young children to
kill. Several attempts were made on his life, but he made it safely
to the US where he was given political asylum. Once there, Kimmie
Weeks created the non-profit organization, Youth Action
International (YAI), which helps families living in post war
countries. To date, YAI programs have benefited over 100,000 youth
in war-torn Africa. To find out how you too can transform your
world, visit:

"I
was moved by the poverty and despair all around and was determined
to help address similar needs back home in the Jackson area," Ashley
recalls, referring to a trip she took to Africa when she was 12
years old. Five years later, Ashley Gunn of Jackson Preparatory
School, Brandon, Mississipi got a chance to turn her words into
action. She started the non-profit organization, Students Aiding
Indigent Families (SAIF), which buys, renovates and sells abandoned
homes to families in need. The 200 student volunteers, who are the
organization’s backbone, are from the Jackson area schools and
churches. Within a year, Ashley was able to help five families, pay
back her initial investors, and raise $100,000 for other charitable
causes. Real estate agents helped her find the families in need –
families who wanted to buy homes but couldn’t obtain loans. One way
you too can do something, is to get involved through:

WHEN
ALLI SHAPIRO AMAR WAS
JUST NINETEEN YEARS OLD,
she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma. For 7 years she fought to
stay alive. But she did not stop there. In 2006, Alli launched the
non-profit organization, Alli’s Journey, to help save the lives of
others. In her own words, “I do believe that it is very important
for me to be a participant in assisting other young adults get
through this terrible ordeal. Now that I have learned how much
strength I can draw from the people and resources around me I want
to do whatever I can to make sure others get the support they need,
not only to live with cancer but to fight it as well." Alli lost her
courageous battle, but her work lives on. To support AJ, visit:

From the moment young
William Kamkwamba read the book, 'Using Energy', he dreamed of building machines to bring electricity
and water to his drought-plagued village in Malawi. The villagers
teased him, called him crazy, but William refused to give up this
dream. He'd already had to put on hold his dream of studying
science, when famine hit in 2002, decimating his family's farm and
forcing him to drop out of school to forage for food.

Armed
with amazing determination and a motley collection of old science
textbooks, William contrived to build, out of scrap metal, tree
limbs, and bicycle parts, a windmill that provided his home with
electricity, and a solar-powered water pump to suply drinking water
to his rural community. From village joke to resident genius,
William became a global beacon of hope. To get involved in William's
Moving Windmills Project, visit:

At
nine years old, Janine and her friend, Aislin, vowing to save the rainforests and the
Titi
monkeys of their homeland, Costa Rica, started selling painted rocks
on the roadside to raise funds. A year later, KSTR was born. To
participate in
one of the organization's
projects, visit:

Matthew
Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek, known to the world simply as, Mattie, lived a full life for the 14
years he was here on earth. Never for one moment did he let his
debilitating illness, Dysautonomic Mitochondrial Myopathy, stop him
from gifting his heartsongs to a world in need of his message of
peace and unity.

His
poetry wrings the truth from our hearts and then gives us permission
to be our best selves. He lit up the lives of millions with his
engaging smile and artless style. Since he left us, the ripples of
his message have been gathering strength. More and more youth, and
adults, are stepping into the light he created, and becoming the
change the world so desires.

'MESSENGER'

'MESSENGER'
BY JENI STEPANEK, Mattie's mother, is a must read. I
couldn't put it down. If anything can galvanize us to do
(or continue doing) what we were meant to do in this
life, this book can!! You may have laughed and cried
with Mattie on Oprah, CNN, and Larry King, or read his
Heartsongs and peace poetry, but nothing will prepare
you for the intense suffering and the miracles this
young boy experienced before his death in 2004 at aged
14. He is beyond inspirational!! See what Dr. Maya
Angelou has to say about this young hero in the
Foreword!

13
year old Richard Turere of Kenya is a remarkable boy. Like many
other cattle herders on the edge of Nairobi National Park, he
has had to face the enormous challenge of keeping his family's
livestock safe from predators of the feline kind. Lions, a top
tourist attraction at the Park, roam the area at night killing
the neighbourhood cows and sheep and goat. Richard tried setting
fires and rigging up scarecrows, but the lions were not
deterred. One night Richard was walking around the shed with a
torchlight when he discovered that the lions avoided moving
lights. Cleverly, he devised a system of flashing lights to
simulate a person walking around the shed. He used discarded
flashlight bulbs a switchbox (blinkers) from a motorcycle, and
one solar panel to power his invention. His invention soon
spread to other homes, and then countrywide, because it had the
added value of saving the lives of these endangered animals from
the wrath of farmers.
Watch Richard Turere at the TED's Young Talent Search Event:

Compassionate
Cities are springing up everywhere! But Khairo Dero, a rural
farming village of 6,000, in the Sindh province of Pakistan, is
special — it is on the way to being named the first official
“compassionate village” in the world! On Compassionate Living
Day, it was the children of Khairo Dero, who took the lead...
Read their fascinating tale, and find out more about the
Compassionate Cities Movement by clicking on the links below:

Dennis
Gyamfi is a 19 year old social activist, who at age 15 was faced
with the same choice millions of youth the world over must make at
some point in their teen lives: hate or create, street gang member
or agent of positive change? Dennis opted for the latter, and is
changing the world through inspirational films and a new online
magazine called Endz2Endz. Go Dennis Gyamfi! To find out how to get
involved, visit:

7th
Grader, Chase Greer, learnt the Heimlich Manoeuvre as part of his
Boy Scout training, but never expected to use it. When his friend
began to choke on his lunch, however, the 12 year old Smith Middle
School student of Cypress, Texas did not hesitate. Springing into
action, he performed the manoeuvre 28 times before achieving
success. Once his friend was breathing again, Chase realized the
enormity of what he had done: he had saved a person's life. To hear
him tell the story, and to learn how to do the heimlich maneuvre
yourself, visit:

Canadian
high school teen, Marshall Zhang, has discovered a great new way to
drive the development of drug treatments for diseases. Using
computer modelling on the SCINET supercomputing network at the
Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Marshall discovered that one
plus one could equal three under certain conditions! His goal was to
find a way to treat cystic fibrosis (CF), a potentially fatal
condition caused by genetic mutation, which results in mucus build
up in the lungs and elsewhere, and his hard work and dedication paid
off. He discovered two drugs each of which interacted with different
parts of the mutant protein, and then worked together in a whole new
way as well. The drug cocktail is yet to be tested on humans, but it
gives great hope to the thousands of people living with the
condition. Marshall took first prize in the 2011 Sanofi-Aventis Bio
Talent Challenge. Well done, Marshall!

WHEN
HE WAS NINE YEARS OLD, Jacob Komar founded Computers for
Communities, a non-profit organization which refurbishes computers
to give to the needy. Jacob first got the idea when he found out
that one of the local grade schools was planning to discard 30 of
their old computers. Knowing that there were kids in his area whose
parents could not afford to buy computers, Jacob, who taught himself
to program at age 5, decided that they could be put to good use.
With the help of fellow techies, he refurbished the computers. Then
he got a list of homes in need from social services, and proceeded
to install a computer in each one. He even made sure that the users
were properly trained.

Ten years later,
Computers for Communities has distributed over 1,000 refurbished
computers, and expanded to include other IT community projects.
If you would like to start your own CFC, visit:

AT
AGE NINE,
Canadian Severn Cullis-Suzuki founded the Environmental Children's
Organization (ECO, so children could learn, and
teach other youth, about environmental issues. Three years
later, she and other group members raised money to attend the
Earth Summit in Rio. After her impassioned speech there, she
became known as 'The girl who silenced the world for five minutes'.
Today, at age 30, Severn continues to be an environmental activist.
You too can become the change you seek. Add your voice to those
saying, "I care!'

AT
THE TURN OF THE CENTURY,
150,000 children worldwide voted for the first ever recipient of the
World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child. Iqbal Masih, a
young Pakistani boy, was chosen for his selfless struggle to free
enslaved children like himself.

In 1987,
when Iqbal was just four years old, he was sent to work for a carpet
manufacturer to pay off a debt his impoverished family owed. For years
he toiled, leaving his home at four in the morning and returning at
seven in the night. Just when it seemed Iqbal would have to
spend the rest of his life in the factory, a law was passed in Pakistan
banning bonded labour and cancelling all such debts. At age 10, Iqbal
fought for and gained his release from the carpet manufacturer, then
went on to help other young children. "Come with me and be free," he
urged those who were still working for unscrupulous
merchants who were ignoring the law. Two years later, Iqbal was shot to
death. Since then, other youth the world over have taken up the fight
for children's rights because, in their words, 'a bullet cannot kill a
dream'. Read about this incredible young activist, and be inspired, at:

When
Ryan Hreljac heard that there were people in developing countries
dying because they didn't have clean drinking water, he set out to
raise money to help them build a well. He did extra chores around
the house and raised $70 dollars, but when he took his donation to
the WaterCan, a non-profit agency in Ottawa that funds well building
in developing countries, he soon found out that it would cost $2,000
to drill a well. If he could raise $700, then the Canadian aid
agency, CIDA, would put the rest. Unfazed, the six year old said,
"I'll do more chores then."

His parents,
realizing that their son was determined to make a difference,
enlisted the help of family and friends. Once the local paper took
up his cause, funds for Ryan's well started to roll in. In two
months, Ryan raised $7,000 to build his well in Uganda. Today,
Ryan's Well Foundation has helped to build over 560 water and
sanitation projects in 16 countries. To pitch in and help Ryan's
foundation, visit:

On November 20, 2009, thousands of children around the world became
silent. Their silence was their commitment to raising awareness of children
who have no voice because of poverty or exploitation. They are part
of Free The Children, an organization founded in 1995 by the then 12
year old Craig Kielburger.

Free the Children is a powerful movement of children helping
children, and has built over 500 schools worldwide. Their aim is to
'free young people from the notion that they are powerless to affect
a positive change in the world'. Today, children are some of the
most powerful, persistent and effective change agents on this planet
of ours! Get involved! Visit:

*IN REAL LIFE:'Swan Children'
are young people who care enough about the world we live in to want to
be agents of change.
Every person deserves to be allowed to fulfill their dreams
in a world that is
safe and healthy.
Let's celebrate the extraordinary achievements of real life 'Swan Children',
who are bringing
this freedom to
others - and
inspiring those of
us who are committed to doing the same!

IN 'LEGEND OF THE
SWAN CHILDREN':Swan Children
are youth with special abilities
born in fulfilment of a prophecy made long, long ago. For centuries, the
Guardians of Light
kept the sacred bowl of flames and the
Wisdom of the Child-Swan hidden, until . .
. For more, read Legend of the Swan
Children.